The error message and the fact that you weren’t able to create the .cache folder sugests that there might be a permissions issue.
In Terminal, could you please run the command: ls -ld ~ ~/.cache
When I run it on my Mac, I see these permissions:
% ls -ld ~ ~/.cache
drwxr-xr-x+ 44 ben staff 1408 Oct 1 08:08 /Users/ben
drwxr-xr-x 6 ben staff 192 Jul 23 07:12 /Users/ben/.cache
(Specifically, I see that my “ben” account is the owner of the “/Users/ben” folder and that the owner has full read/write/execute permissions for that folder. And, for me, that .cache folder exists with the same owners/permissions)
From the output you provided, I see that the “/Users/alexandrabigasarino/.cache” folder already exists, but it is owned by someone else named “root”. Other users (including you) do not have permission to write inside that folder.
(It seems that in January 2025, something was installed on the computer as the root or administrator user, causing the folder to be created with the “root” owner.)
You will probably want to change the owner of that folder, and everything in it, to yourself. I believe the command would be: sudo chown -hR alexandrabigasarino /Users/alexandrabigasarino/.cache
(The system will want you to enter the administrator password to run the command.)
I’m going to leave them separate for now, since the other was solved by installing the correct version. But thank you for noticing and adding the link between them!
Adding for searchability:
Error: Failed to run (2)
error: failed to create directory
Permission denied (os error 13)
I have installed anki from the official website in to my MacOS ( version: 15.6). But when I try to open it, a terminal opens and asks me to 1 (enter) for latest version, when i do that, it runs and shows a message,
"Checking for updates… Unable to check for Anki versions. Please check your internet connection.
Error: Failed to run (2): /Applications/Anki.app/ Contents/MacOS/uv run --no-project --no-config --managed-python --with pip-system-certs,requests[socks] --python 3.13.5 /Applications/Anki.app/Contents/Resources/versions.py: error: failed to create directory /Users/macbookairm2/.local/share/uv/python: Permission denied (os error 13)"
(Extra note: I have stable internet and connected to home wifi)
Due to this I am not able to open and use the software.. why this is happening? Is there any way to resolve this?
This “permission denied” error message suggests that there may be a filesystem permissions or ownership issue.
In Terminal, could you please provide the output of the command: ls -ld ~ ~/.local ~/.local/share ~/.local/share/uv ~/.local/share/uv/python ?
It will show us the ownership and permissions for those directories. When I run the command on my Mac, I get…
% ls -ld ~ ~/.local ~/.local/share ~/.local/share/uv ~/.local/share/uv/python
drwxr-xr-x+ 44 ben staff 1408 Oct 24 16:45 /Users/ben
drwxr-xr-x@ 3 ben staff 96 Jul 23 07:12 /Users/ben/.local
drwxr-xr-x@ 3 ben staff 96 Jul 23 07:12 /Users/ben/.local/share
drwxr-xr-x@ 3 ben staff 96 Jul 23 07:12 /Users/ben/.local/share/uv
drwxr-xr-x@ 6 ben staff 192 Jul 23 07:12 /Users/ben/.local/share/uv/python
… showing that the directories are owned by the user “ben” (me), and that I have full “rwx” read/write/execute permissions for them.
The output indicates that someone else, the “root” user, owns the /Users/adank/.local directory. Everyone else (including “adank”) does not have permission to write in that directory.
You will probably want to change the owner of the directory, and everything in it, to yourself, via: sudo chown -hR adank /Users/adank/.local
(The system will want you to enter the administrator password to run the command.)
(The output you originally posted mentioned the “/Users/macbookairm2” directory, which is slightly confusing since you say your account name is “adank”. I am not sure why it was mentioned in your first error message. If you are trying to install Anki while logged into your computer as “macbookairm2” instead of “adank”, you might also need to check and fix the ownership/permissions of the /Users/macbookairm2/.local directory.)
This solved my issue, earlier I used “macbookairm2” in the user name to hide the name and give insight into the device I am using. Thank you so much for the help
I got a new macbook M4 coming from an intel and I cant get my anki to work. I have tried to delete and redownload and restart but nothing has worked. I saw a previous post about using an older version but I cant seem to find where to download an older version to try.
Can someone please help me with this? I need my anki back asap. I attached a pic of the text that presents when I try to open it.
It may be that you are seeing a similar issue as the 2 users in this forum topic: Can't install anki on macOS - Permission denied
Please try the troubleshooting procedures mentioned in that topic to see if they might also resolve your issue, or let us know if you need help doing so.
If you are instead still interested in installing an older version of Anki, you can find Anki 25.02.7 (the last version before the new installer was added) here: Release 25.02.7 · ankitects/anki · GitHub
